Beginnings
by YoshiFurbyPhoenixGirl257
Summary: Everyone has a beginning, even Kurenai Yuuhi. A story on her, and many other jounins and chunins, journey to where they are today. Kurenai, Mizuki, and Inabi Uchiha are together on a squad with Hizashi Hyuuga as their sensei. T for possible blood later
1. Chapter 1

**Looking page after page, I couldn't find any fics on the jounin (and some of the chunin) in their younger days. So I decided to right this one. Very few Ocs, if any, as I scrounged the internet for shinobi who were in the right age range. The story will eventually zoom in on Kurenai more so than the others, still haven't decided whether to do KurenaixAsuma or KurenaixKakashi. Anyways, enjoy and review!**

"Squad two:, Ebisu, Mite Gai, and Suzume," the Academy master said, announcing the squads.

"What... But I wanted to be on Uchiha san''s team, or at least Sarutobi san's..." a girl with dark wavy her murmured and glasses murmured

"Don't worry, it'll be fun with just the three of us, right, Ebisu-san?" a boy in a green jumpsuit said, a smile across his face.

"I suppose so, and I guess it's nice that I'm on the same squad as Suzume-chan... Although Yugao-chan is so much more interesting, she's colder than a cube of ice. I guess it's better than Kurenai-chan, her eyes always freak me out."

The bandana-wearing genin cringed as the purple hair kunoichi glared at him, whereas the other merely looked down and fidgeted uncomfortably.

"Squad five: Kurenai Yuuhi, Inabi Uchiha, and Mizuki."

Kurenai glanced at the Uchiha beside her. Noticing this, he turned to her.

"Just remember who the real Uchiha is here, you faker," he said nonchalantly.

"It's not my fault..." Kurenai murmured.

"Yeah, whatever, girl, just don't slow us down," a gray-haired genin muttered.

"Squad eleven: Yugao Uzuki, Ko Hyuuga, and Asuma Sarutobi."

The tall, skilled # 1 rookie Yugao nodded in brisk acknowledgement.

Ko glanced around and found his teammates.

"Let's try our best," Asuma said, nervous at being paired with the fearsome Yugao.

"Dismissed, be at the academy in the morning tomorrow to meet your sensei," the master declared before leaving the room.

--

The door banged aside, splintering. Kurenai jumped, Inabi rolled his eyes, and Mizuki pulled a shuriken from his pack.

"You're late," Mizuki stated, hastily stowing his shuriken as if he had never drawn it.

"Um... Who are you?" Kurenai asked hesitantly.

"You don't know who that is? Wow," Inabi scoffed, "She is the First's granddaughter, Tsunade."

"Mhmm," the blonde woman strutted into the room. "Make no mistakes; I am not your sensei. Hizashi Hyuuga just happens to be on a mission at the moment, and I am to take over your training until he returns."

"A Hyuuga, huh? That should make things interesting," Inabi smirked.

Tsunade eyed the boy nervously. Yes, he was an Uchiha, but it couldn't possible that he had ...?

"Inabi Uchiha! Kurenai Yuuhi! Mizuki! Come!" Tsunade called, walking towards the door, "We're technically supposed to do this tomorrow," the woman tossed a sly look over her shoulder, "But I don't see the harm in doing it earlier. I know that Mizuki came prepared, are the rest of you?"

The members of Squad five nodded, and followed their temporary sensei out the door.

- -

"Okay, listen up!" Tsunade called. The genin were in middle of a wide field, three logs standing before them. "This is an old test that the Third instituted. You should be grateful." She withdrew two bells from her pack, clanging them together. "This is simple enough. Of those who graduated from the academy this year, only nine or twelve will be accepted as true genin. You will either pass or fail depending on whether or not you succeed in my test. Of course, if you fail, you are not among those who become genin."

Kurenai gasped, her crimson eyes widening. "But Tsunade-sensei!"

"How is that fair?!" cried Mizuki, a feral look in his eye. "We worked really hard to graduate, and now you're telling us that that's not even going to happened?!"

"Hmph. Stop complaining. She only said that was going to happen if we fail. And I don't know about you two, but I certaintly have no intention of failing," Inabi snorted. "And besides how hard -"

A palm connected with the back of the Uchiha's skull, the boy stumbled forward, turned, an apologetic look in his eye.

"Now then. This is non-negotiable and no getting out of it. Either you make it, or you don't. And you certaintly won't make it if you won't even listen to what the test is."

"R-Right..." Inabi murmured, getting to his feet and brushing himself off.

"Okay. This is simple," she held the bells before her, "Merely retrieve one of these bells and you -" Tsunade jerked the arm holding the bells up, and brought the other one horizontally across her, hitting a certain gray-haired genin's back.

"Try listening, Mizuki. What if I said fail?"

The boy coughed a little, and massaged his bruised back. "I-I am sorry, Tsunade-sensei."

"Anyways, before I was so politely interrupted," Tsunade glared at a cringing Mizuki, "I was going to say you'd pass. However, I have no intention of letting any mere academy kids get their hands on them. Show me what level you are truly at, and you might find yourself with one of these," the bells clanged together.

"Alright. Everyone understand? Good. Then, begin!" the to-be sannin cried, raising the bells high over her head before disappearing.


	2. Chapter 2

Kurenai hid, high in the branches, emerald leaves brushing her skin. The red-eyed nine-year-old blinked, entranced by its verdant color contrasting against her pale skin, the small, dark wraith of a shadow only adding to the mesmerizing beauty.

She blinked and shook her head. What did she think she doing, zoning out at a time like this!

No sooner had the thought entered her head then a thin wire wrapped around the branch she perched on. Gasping a little, Kurenai jumped away, flipping back onto another branch then leaping onto an adjacent tree. Her crimson eyes narrowed a little, and she managed to make out a gray-haired figure.

_Mizuki,_ she thought, _What is he doing here?_ She scanned the area, following the wire to the boy to some more wires, improvised weights, explosive tags, all creating a pressure triggered contraption.

_Oh,a trap. _Kurenai carefully marked the location, and wondered what to do about her teammate. _Two bells..._ Yes, there were only two bells, and that meant that only two of them could pass.

She thought about her teammates, and figured that Mizuki would probably be the easier opponent, if she had to choose. She glanced back down at the boy. Did she really think she could defeat him? It was a stretch; Mizuki had always had a slight edge on her when it came to taijutsu, plus who know how many traps he had already planted.

She closed her eyes, the wind tossing her dark hair this way and that, and she clutched the branch so tightly her knuckles paled.

It seemed near suicidal to go down and confront him, she decided, jumping away.

_So, _she thought, _I can't beat Mizuki and I can't beat Inabi._

Landing on the ground, she stared at the gray stone beneath her. The grains seemed to swirl before, and again she had to shake herself out of it. But everything seemed so hopeless! She might as well sit there staring at the ground!

There didn't seem to be any option other than failing. The almost-kunoichi stood up, and she almost laughed to herself.

She was only nine, after all. Did she _honestly_ expect herself to make genin at such a young age.

_No, that's ridicu- _a sharp pain of rememberance shocked the girl.

_YOU PROMISED! s_omething inside her screamed.

_You foolish girl_, she chided that silly part of her that believed that she could do something just because she had promised. But another emotion seared across her midsection, and she collapsed to one knee. _But – but – but then what AM I doing here?! What did all those years I worked so hard for mean?! _A confused tear slipped from the girl's blood-colored eyes and splashed on the ground, _How foolish for someone trying to prove herself a true shinobi to be showing so much emotion,_ a third, detached part of her mind mused.

_Damn it,_ Kurenai swore at her confusion, feeling lost within herself. _This is pointless,_ she realized. _I'm not accomplishing anything by just sitting here. _Glancing around, she started to get to her feet. _I am here so I might as well try..._

Faded faces of distant memories burned in Kurenai's mind.

_Fine,_ she conceded, _More than try._

And she turned to come face to face with the Uchiha.

He seemed mildly surprised at finding her there, but quickly recovered.

"My apologies, Kurenai-san," he began, "But only two of us get to be genin, and I have no intention of losing to a girl. Not that I think you're capable of even getting a bell, but still... It's best to be careful. Besides, it would be a pain if you and Mizuki teamed up against me."

"Eh...?" it took a moment for Kurenai to understand what he was saying, and then she was a second to late in avoiding a shuriken, which imbedded itself in her midsection.

_What do I do?!_ She thought, panicking slightly as she reached into her bag and brought out some shuriken, numb and oblivious to her knocking knees.

"You don't hesitate," the Uchiha before her calmly stated, before sending three deadly kunai at her.

_Yes, _she thought, lightly stepping between two of the kunais, turning slightly sideways, _That's what she told me, that day..._

_Don't hesitate... _

_Just fight..._

_And don't think..._

_If you want to survive in a shinobi's world._


End file.
